Improvement in balloons



J. H.'ooNNBLL.

' AIR BALLOON.

No. 40,608. Ptent'd Nov. 17, A1868.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. CONNELL, OF LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. t

KMPROVEMENT IN BALLOONS.

Specifiea'tion formin g pa-rt of Letters Patent No. 403 308, datcd November 17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMEs H. OONNELL, of Lexington, in the county of Fayette and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Air Balloons; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part, of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal Vertical section of my invention. Fig. 2 is a trans- Verse Vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre` sponding parts in the several figures.l

This invention consists in the arrangement of posts secured to the ends of the balloon, and also to the bow and stern of the boat or car, in such manner that the balloon and the car are firmly connected, and in passing through the air act as one body.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, [will proceed to decribe it. w

A represents the balloon, the top and sides. of which are cut out in such a manner that said balloon when it is inflated assumes the shape of a huge boat with a sharp how and stern, capable of passing through the air with the least possible resistance.

The balloon is made of oil-Silk, or any other suitable material impervious to gas, and its ends are strengthened by two pieees, B, of stout canvas or other suitable material.

` These pieces are secured to the balloon by means of the netting O, from which the car is suspended, and they are provided with straps or loops a, to secure the posts D D', one on the bow and' the other at the stern of the balloon.

E is the car, which is of such a length that its ends reach the posts D D', and that ittcan be firmly fastened to the same. Said posts are made of 'some kind of strong light Wood, and their object is to hold the balloon in position above the car. The post D' also serves to attach the rudder F, the post of which turns in brackets b, extending from the post D'. The position of the rudder is governed by means of awOrm-WheeI, c, which is firmiy secured to the rudder-post, and which gears into a worm scre'w, d, on the end of the shaft e, to the rear end of which the wheelf is firmly secured.

The car E is provided with one or more gaschambers, G, which connect by pipes g with the pump H, and pipes h h' extend from the pump and from the gas-chambers to the neck I, through which gas is a l mitted to or withdrawn from the balloon; The chambers G are filled with gas eompressed thercin by means of the pump, and, if it' is desired to inflate thev balloon,'suitable stop-eocks are opened and the gas is admitted through the pipes h. When it is desired to exhaust the balloon, the gas is drawn out by the pump through the pipes h' and returned to the chambers G. By

these means the balloon can be made to ascend ordescend at pleasure, or the balloon may be first inflatod in the ordinary manner, and the gas from the same eompressed in the chambers G. A propeller, J, which rotates on a shaft extending over the how of the car, is intended to propel the balloon in the desired direction.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The posts D D', in combination with the balloon A and car E, constructed and applied in the manner and for the purpose substan tially as herein shown and described.

J. H. CONNELL. 

